Soraia and Koaibei Are Not the Same Place

A replica by the Hermanos Guillen attributed or identified 

as Maketaurie Guaiaba, the Kasike of Koaibei.

Did You Know:  The earliest surviving written account of Taíno beliefs on the "afterlife" identifies Koaibei—not Soraia—as the dwelling place of the departed? In Chapter XII of Relación acerca de las antigüedades de los indios, Ramón Pané states that the dead go to a place he recorded as Coaibai. He further describes it as the “house and dwelling place of the dead,” governed by Maquetaurie Guayaba. In the modern Spanish rendering edited by José Juan Arrom, Soraia—recorded in the source as Soraya—identifies the extremity or part of the island where Koaibei was believed to be located; it is not presented as the final destination of the dead.

Confusion between the two names may result partly from the complicated transmission of Pané’s work. His original Spanish manuscript has not survived; the account was preserved through an Italian translation incorporated into Fernando Colón’s history and first printed in Venice in 1571. Later summaries have sometimes changed the wording to place Koaibei “on the island of Soraia,” while others have treated Soraia itself as the Taíno afterlife. Whatever uncertainty may surround Soraia’s precise geography, the central statement remains clear: Pané recorded Koaibei as the place to which the dead go. He did not describe Soraia as replacing Koaibei or as the final destination of a spiritual journey.

Taíno language research presented in Gu’ahia Taíno offers additional Indigenous insight into the restored term Koaibei: koai signifies “joy” or “joyful,” while bei signifies “existence” or “being.” Koaibei may therefore be understood as “joyful existence” or “joyful being.” Because Pané did not translate the name, this interpretation should be credited to contemporary Taíno language research rather than attributed to the friar. Taken together, the historical account and the Gu’ahia Taíno analysis support remembering Koaibei as the Taíno dwelling of the departed—a continued and joyful existence beyond physical life.

References

• Ramón Pané, Relación acerca de las antigüedades de los indios, Chapter XII, edited by José Juan Arrom: The place to which the dead go.
• Ramón Pané, Relación acerca de las antigüedades de los indios, Chapter XIII: The appearance and activities of the departed.
• Fernando Colón, Historie del Signor D. Fernando Colombo, Chapter LXI: Italian textual tradition preserving Pané’s account.
• José Juan Arrom, ed., Ramón Pané, Relación acerca de las antigüedades de los indios, 3rd ed. (Mexico City: Siglo XXI Editores, 1978): Bibliographic record.
• Múkaro Agüeibaná Borrero, Gu’ahia Taíno: linguistic analysis of koai, bei, and Koaibei.

Editorial note: UCTP uses the standardized spelling Soraia; historical sources may record the name as Soraya.